We recently hosted a workshop where our portfolio founders had an opportunity to spend time refining their brands with @jbosborne and Marni Kane (https://t.co/chIjEnevR6) from legendary creative firm @redantler. Here are some of the insights we gleaned from the session:

1/🧵

👶 Showcase your flying baby!

“Branding is an exercise in prioritization” was the most common piece of feedback shared with our portfolio. The Red Antler team fashioned a great heuristic to aid in this process – “If your baby can fly, lead with that!”

2/20

The point is to focus on what you do better than anyone else.

The one thing that your customers would *love* about your product.

In short, a single differentiated message is better than half a dozen banal brand promises.

3/20

“Focus” sounds like incredibly simple advice, but it’s easy for founders (or VCs) to get attached to the many benefits they want to highlight and not focus on the single problem they are solving for customers. Ruthlessly simplify your story until it resonates with buyers.
4/20

😃 You sell to customers, not companies

B2B and B2C sales shouldn’t be all that different – at the end of the day, you are still selling to a human who is moved by aesthetics and branding. (Sadly, they likely just have lower expectations in their professional context.)

5/20

I wandered down to the Supreme Court, where folks participating in the “Jericho March” are scheduled to pray for SCOTUS/Congress to oppose the 2020 election results.

Also here: folks wearing albs and blowing…smoke out of shofars.

The, uh, nature of the smoke is…unclear.

Another person is brandishing an American flag and wearing…a Guy Fawkes mask?

There’s a lot going on here, people.

As folks mull about, organizers are blasting an overtly Christian nationalist anthem.

“God bless America again, We need the blood of Jesus to wash away our sins…”

We’re now all being asked to leave because police say they’ve found a “suspicious package” nearby.

As people leave, some chant “four more years!”

Others, draped in US flags, blow shofars (without smoke).

Officer telling people “usually this stuff is short-term” (which, in my experience working as a reporter in DC, is often true).

Here's an overview of key adoption metrics for deep learning frameworks over 2020: downloads, developer surveys, job posts, scientific publications, Colab usage, Kaggle notebooks usage, GitHub data.

TensorFlow/Keras = #1 deep learning solution.

Note that we benchmark adoption vs Facebook's PyTorch because it is the only TF alternative that registers on the scale. Another option would have been sklearn, which has massive adoption, but it isn't really a TF alternative. In the future, I hope we can add JAX.

TensorFlow has seen 115M downloads in 2020, which nearly doubles its lifetime downloads. Note that this does *not* include downloads for all TF-adjacent packages, like tf-nightly, the old tensorflow-gpu, etc.

Also note that most of these downloads aren't from humans, but are automated downloads from CI systems (but none are from Google's systems, as Google doesn't use PyPI).

In a way, this metric reflects usage in production.

There were two worldwide developer surveys in 2020 that measured adoption of various frameworks: the one from StackOverflow, targeting all developers, and the one from Kaggle.

THREAD 4

#ALEPH2020:

#ALEPH2020: humans are physiologically adapted to animal source

#ALEPH2020: Nutrients are not always easily obtained from plants

#ALEPH2020: special needs of vulnerable populations are met with animal source

#ALEPH2020: restricting animal source foods may put the young at

1/23: One #startup trap to avoid (founders and VCs) is to fall in love with a value prop that can’t be delivered IRL now. Good diligence will surface disconnects but they’re often brushed under the rug by #VCs who believe fixing delivery over time will be fine. Unpacked:

2/23: The foundational reason why this matters from day 1 is that building a franchise of loyal customers is difficult for any #startup to pull off but the challenge is amplified if the #startup has to rebuild its franchise as it scales.

3/23: Broken or unfulfilled promises lead to customer behaviors that have real consequences. Poor ratings and reviews. High customer service costs. High complaint volume. Low engagement. High attrition/returns/cancelations. Low organic growth.

4/23: Undoing damage takes time and sometimes is nearly impossible. Convincing inactive customers to “retry” your product isn’t easy. Overcoming bad reviews can be a Herculean task. And resources will be thrown at fixing past sins at the expense of new functionality.

5/23: And guess what happens when #VCs dig into questionable early performance numbers? These conversations tend to revolve around caveats, apologies and synthetic analysis that bakes in significant improvements (many of which are still “unknown” in nature).

Thread 1/24

Is this the next part of the script?

We have 9 -12 months before #TheGreatReset script leads to Boris Johnson's new public announcement, something along these lines:

#Covid19 #TheGreatReset #Coronavirus #Lockdown
@JuliaHB1 @NeilClark66 @ClarkeMicah @JamesMelville

2/24

Boris Johnson, address to the nation 1st Jan 2022.

"We have all sacrificed so much to save lives & protect the NHS. You have done everything possible to protect your families & we, your government have likewise spent unimaginable amounts supporting you & your loved ones."

3/24

"Individually and together as a nation, we have paid a huge price for this.

Despite doing everything possible to provide support, millions have lost incomes, businesses and livelihoods; as a country, we are in debt that can never be repaid."

4/24

"When balancing saving lives or saving money, the decision was simple, we had to spend whatever it took.

We have borrowed from IMF, from friends, issued & sold bonds, & just like pawning family silver, we have sold large volumes of our assets & infrastructure."

5/24
"Our economy lies in ruins & we have reached the limits of our borrowing capacity.
We must however keep paying the UC& Universal Basic Income on which so many of us now depend. Without this, suffering will be unimaginable, the potential loss of life, too big to comprehend."

Those of you who believe in free will. I have some questions for you.

1. When you suddenly wake up at 2am and can't stop thinking about work and can't go back to bed for hours and hours because your brain won't shut off. Would you say you have free will during that time?

2. When you really don't want to do something but you know you have to do it so you do it, would you consider that to be free will?
For instance suppose you're a parent and you've got a sick kid vomiting in their bed, all night. Then they wake you up at 6am hungry and needy.

3.Suppose there's something you know you should do but just aren't doing it. Like getting out of bed on time, or doing exercise, or cleaning the toilet. You know you should and you want to, but you just aren't. So if you want to but aren't doing it, where's the free will in that?

4. Pick a random number from 1-1000. Got one? Is picking something at random free will? You're trying really hard for it to be random, and so you blank out your mind and wait for the first number to pop in. How is what you picked free will? It's a complete throw of the dice...

5. When you do something consistently every day for over a decade, and you know you'll be doing it for another decade to come. Is it really free will when you decide to do it today?

Pandemic Response Is Our Vietnam. https://t.co/xgLMwlRQNd from @aier

"Most scholars agree that America’s involvement in Vietnam was an unmitigated public policy disaster.

In 2020, a new standard for monumental government failure has been set:"

#coronamaatregelen #lockdown

"Our public policy response to the coronavirus, which has resulted in the establishment of a state-run religion of mandatory social distancing, a tyrannical public health police state to enforce it, and a never-ending “state of emergency.”

"Those who questioned the virtues of quarantines and lockdowns were vilified and censored from mainstream and social media as purveyors of misinformation or conspiracy theorists."

"Mission creep was also a major factor in America’s involvement in Vietnam, leading to the rapid expansion of troops on the ground and bombing on a massive scale."

"In the “war” against the coronavirus, “15 days to flatten the curve” is morphing into 15 months (at least) to fully eradicate the virus."

Hello friends, let's talk about gamer expectations of work/life balance & why they need to stfu.

There's a certain type of Gamer w/ a Hard R that believes their video games are the center of all existence. They've made their identity so fixated on gaming in general, or a game/games in particular, that nothing else comes close.

To those obsessive gamers, those in the game industry should consider themselves privileged to work on such important material. And w/ that privilege comes accepting that nothing in the employee's life is as important as The Game.

B/c gamer identities revolve around a game, they literally cannot comprehend that an employee might have other things in their life. They don't understand that employees, esp devs, have a right to boundaries b/c The Game trumps all.

There's also very little understanding among gamers about how game development, you know, *works* & they usually assume a lot less work is needed. So when combined w/ a lack of belief in employee boundaries, they truly expect immediate results.

I’ve compiled 6 tips for the move online based on @AccessTCD & @SchoolofEdTCD research. During #schoolclosures last year we surveyed 1000+ students and 700+ teachers about their experience of #onlinelearning. Although it's difficult to be back here, we have learned so much. (1/N)

1. Prioritise student & staff wellbeing. Connection before content. Everyone is dealing with different circumstances at home often unbeknownst to others. Check-in with students and colleagues. (2/N)

2. A whole-school approach is needed when moving teaching and learning online. Our research suggests that schools who used a whole school approach had higher engagement from students and higher collaboration among teachers. (3/N)

3. Research suggests providing live or recorded lessons for students is important for high student engagement. Connect with each other, students don’t want double the amount of homework, they want to learn from their enthusiastic teachers and see the face behind the screen. (4/N)

4. Teacher feedback means the world to students. It helps them to improve, motivates them to keep up engagement and strengthens student/ teacher relationships. Assign a meaningful amount of work to students that you have the time to respond to. (5/N)

@BrittTheBarista @Perduesenate @marcorubio You've believed the Big Lie that Democrats "will destroy America with socialism."

I understand. I believed it too.

It's time to start asking yourself whether it's true.

To find out, we only need a quick tour of history.

1/x

@Perduesenate @marcorubio We only need to start asking questions.

So let's do it.

1) Has there ever been a time when Democrats controlled American government?

2) If so, did those Democrats come close to destroying America with socialism?

The first question is easy to answer.

2/x

@Perduesenate @marcorubio We've had many Democratic Presidents in the past. To keep it relevant, let's concentrate on the past 40 years, or the lifetime of the average American.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan -- a Republican -- was elected President. For most of the next 8 years, we had a booming economy.

3/x

@Perduesenate @marcorubio So far, so good.

His Vice-President, George H W Bush, took over as President in 1988, & was President until 1992.

During Bush's term, America slipped into a recession.

Because of this, Bush's Democratic challenger, Bill Clinton, was elected President of the United States.

4/x

@Perduesenate @marcorubio This gave Democrats an opportunity to destroy America with socialism, if that's what they wanted to do.

Is that what happened? No, in fact, during Clinton's 8 years, America's economy boomed.

SO much that we were actually talking about paying off the national debt...!

5/x

So, uh, the Trump rally in DC is off to a good start

We're already at the anti-Semitic dogwhistle portion of the Trump rally

these people are out of their minds

"The Covid-19 PCR tests are fake ... the models were fake" -- Now a coronavirus truther/grifter is speaking at the Trump rally

"Who here is up to the task of not wearing a mask? ... Jesus is king and it's time to let freedom ring"

So many people don’t realize that they have OCD because actual obsessive compulsive disorder is rarely talked about openly. So here are the basics: 🧵(thread)

I think that a lot of people forget that OCD is a mental illness, emphasis on the MENTAL. When it’s portrayed on TV, it’s always shown as a very behavioral disorder. And while it’s true that overt behavioral compulsions are part of OCD, they don’t begin to tell the whole story

OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder. That’s obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. The OCD cycle is the cycle of obsessions that lead to compulsions that lead to more obsessions that lead to more compulsions etc etc etc.

People with OCD experience intrusive thoughts (which become obsessions.) Intrusive thoughts are unwanted and invasive, and they’re generally REALLY disturbing. It’s a common misconception that people with OCD are exclusively concerned with tidiness and cleanliness. This is false

TW/ OCD subtypes

Intrusive thoughts can be about anything, but there are a few common “subtypes” of obsessions. These include harm OCD, self harm OCD, sexual OCD, pedophelia OCD, relationship OCD, contamination OCD, religious OCD, moral OCD, health OCD and “just right”

newly minted champion of hindus, sri sri @ncbn saar.. you might have forgotten we haven't.

your own "scheme" of Divya Darshanam i.e sending 1.3 lakh poor hindus to pilgrimage.

cost: 100 crs.

borne by - TTD & 7 major temples.

cost to tax-payer: 0. Z-E-R-O. 1+

Scheme -
RO plant at Srisailam.

Development works or Construction works at various temples across AP.

Kalyana Mantapas at various places in AP.

cost: a few hundred crores.

borne by: TTD

cost to tax-payer: 0. Z-E-R-O. 2+

Scheme -
Construction works at various temples across AP.

Kalyana Mantapas at various places in AP.

cost: a few hundred crores.

borne by: TTD

cost to tax-payer: 0. Z-E-R-O. 3+

Scheme -

Land for Bharat Electronics Ltd.

51 acres.

borne by: TTD

cost to tax-payer: 0. Z-E-R-O. 4+

Scheme -

Venkateswara Swamy temple at Amaravati. in CRDA limits.

Cost: 50 lakh per acre.

borne by; TTD

cost to tax-payer: 0. Z-E-R-O. 5+

THREAD $FB
I see a lot of flippant bearish FB tweets. Typically they are politically motivated or lack data. I love hearing the other side, but haven’t seen a thoughtful bear case so I thought I’d try build it myself.
Summary: 1) Users Fall; 2) Competition; 3) IDFA; 4) Opm% fall.

1) Despite the popular narrative I see of “I don’t use FB anymore and neither do my friends,” unless you think FB is flat out lying about their User #s, the data doesn’t support this. FB Blue DAUs have been going up every year World Wide and in the more mature NA market.

Note, FB reports MAUs/DAUs for Facebook blue app, and only recently started reporting the FB Family of apps in aggregate (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) which has ~2.54bn DAUs vs. FB Blue at 1.82bn.

But NA Users DID FALL sequentially in 3Q20 (after robust additions during the earlier periods of COVID) and have been fairly stagnant since 2018 when the Cambridge Analytica news hit (3Q17-1Q19, over 6 quarters FB only added 1mn net DAUs and the stock was down over this period).

NA is 10% of FB users but 50% of Revs so it is a key geo to watch for. Admittedly, at 195mn DAUs in NA and 255mn MAUs, there likely aren’t a lot of users left to acquire. If you’re not on FB now, you probably won’t be in the future (unless you’re a teenager and you “age up”).

1/ There are a lot of investment sayings that get repeated by individual & professional investors alike.

One I hear parroted over and over again is a variation of “high stock valuations are fine since interest rates are low”.

But did you ever stop and ask, “Is that true”?

2/ This thread was inspired by a tweet poll I did a few years ago, in which I asked, would you still own stocks if they reached 10-year price to earnings (CAPE) ratio valuation multiples of 50-, or 100-times earnings.

3/ And I was shocked, but most said they would still own stocks at 50, and many (a third!) said they would own them at essentially any price (100).

4/ This had me scratching my head as it sounds totally insane.

Most investors use a value approach when it comes to buying assets like cars, houses, etc.

How long would you spend before buying that new 80-inch TV? (OK maybe less now with @wirecutter)

5/ But time spent to think about investing your life savings?

Many are just willing to clickautoinvest into stocks at any valuation level.

Historically investing in stocks at sky-high multiples is a horrible, terrible, no good idea.

under article 3, not 2...so the SCOTUS will be forced to listen.....

He now has the DNI report.

Barr stepped down and can now be a witness.....he did his job.

Durham is special counsel and can prosecute, in any state....

#Arsenal re: rebuilding | I know we all want this club to be successful again. In that light, there is work to be done in terms of how we build-out the squad moving forward. But for me, that cannot be all about buying every single player (1/12) #AFC

We are undoubtedly going to be linked to a lot of names from now and running through the summer...but what truly makes the most sense? Where in the team are - right now - the biggest questions? For me it's CM, CB, and long-term at CF. Most of the spine (2/12)

Yes Auba extended and we still have Laca, but both are on the wrong side of 30, and long-term, it's unlikely they'll be here and performing. The only question we don't have at CB is around Gabriel. The CM debate continues about a number of players & if they're good enough (3/12)

Arguments can easily be made for a CM purchase in the summer, as well as a CB depending on how things shake out with Mavropanos, Chambers, and Saliba's loan at Nice. What there should not be questions on, is our attacking options (4/12)

I am always adamant about the necessity in finding a balance between veteran pieces, a core of prime players, and a sprinkling of young talent that have unquestionable futures. You need all three to be a club that can sustain itself both financially and in terms of results (5/12)